SodaStream to represent Israel at Super Bowl XLVII

“We’re going after Coke and Pepsi in their prime time slot of the year,” company official tells 'Post'.

Soda Stream commercial .
(photo credit:screen shot)

Israel’s SodaStream International will compete with Coca- Cola and Pepsi on their own turf on February 3, when it advertises on CBS during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVII.

The world’s largest manufacturer of home beverage carbonation systems sells its products at more than 15,000 retail stores in the United States. It is hoping to attract a larger share of the soda market after participating in the biggest event on the American sports calendar.

“We’re going after Coke and Pepsi in their prime time slot of the year,” Yonah Lloyd, chief corporate development and communications officer, told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

“The Super Bowl is the best place to get everyone at one time,” he said. “It’s a big sodadrinking audience. Coke and Pepsi are key sponsors of that event; Pepsi is the sponsor of the half-time show... The time has come for SodaStream to join their ranks on an equal footing and bring this message of a smarter, easier and healthier way to enjoy soda than what people are doing right now, by spending alot of money on all that packaged soda with bad ingredients.”

Coca-Cola appears to have backed off from demands it made earlier this year for SodaStream to shut down its “cage exhibits” of bottles and cans, according to Lloyd. He said nothing has been heard from Coke’s lawyers since SodaStream went public with their correspondence in June.

Soda Stream has around 30 cage exhibits around the world – including one at Ben-Gurion Airport. The cages contain bottles and cans collected from local garbage dumps, to communicate a message about waste.

The TV spot will reveal a fresh take on a new campaign which highlights SodaStream’s sustainability benefit by showing scenes of soda bottles suddenly disappearing as people effortlessly make their own soda with the firm’s home carbonation system. It is scheduled to air during the fourth quarter of the game – a deliberate ploy, as SodaStream believes this is when people are most likely to notice the growing piles of bottles and cans around them.

CBS is charging an average price of $3.8 million for a 30- second advertising spot during next year’s Super Bowl. Over 111 million viewers watched the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI last January – making it the most-watched television program in US history.